Every spring, when I was growing up in Iowa City, there was an event called the Red and White Carnival. It seemed to always be on the weekend in May when the spring became glorious and there may even be a hint of summer.
It was, obviously, a carnival, complete with rides, carnies, questionable snacks, and a lot of people. It was called the Red and White carnival presumably because its host was the parking lot of City High School, and their school colors were red and white. It was a fundraiser for the Iowa City Music Auxiliary.
City High is a majestic brick school, built in the late 1930s, on a hill, nestled in a residential area. The distinctive white tower can be seen for miles. The parking lot that hosted the Red and White, was known in my time as "The Pot Lot". High school students have a penchant for categorizing people and places, so at some point through the years, it was a familiar designation, fairly or unfairly based on what may or may not have happened there.
During my sixth grade year, my friend Kurt and I were planning our annual visit to the R & W. While strolling around checking out the rigged games and the slightly frightening carnies and high schoolers, we happened upon two classmates.
I will give them more contemporary names, just in case they ever read this! Jessie and Madison were classmates of ours. Also, they were our rivals! Constantly, we traded barbs witty insults to try to top each other. Usually they were based on some sort of perceived lack of intelligence on the part of the adversary. Invariably, the other friend would jump in, and the banter would continue until order was returned by the long-suffering Mrs. Rauer.
So we met Jessie and Madison at the carnival. Of course, insults were traded. I do not recall the exact content of the exchange, but in some way, I must have crossed the line. Jessie decided it was time to douse me with her cup of soda pop.
On a warm, almost summery day, sugary liquid applied to your body does not feel so good. After the initial shock, I exclaimed, "I feel like a glazed donut!!"
Luckily, I lived only a couple of blocks away, I went home with Kurt, cleaned up, and plotted our revenge. We weren't exactly clever; we decided to head back and get Jessie back with a cup of soda. Unfortunately, we had already been to the carnival for awhile, so we had spent all our money. So were wandering the house looking for change. So we managed to scrape up the 15 cents (Yes, 15 cents!!!) for the weapon of choice. We went back, purchased a brown non-diet cola for maximum stickiness and possible staining, and searched for our victim.
We wandered awhile, hoping they hadn't decided to leave. Suddenly, we spotted them. Better yet, they did not see us, so we able to sneak up quietly to attack with accuracy. We got really close and one of us said, "Hey!" Jessie turned. I fired. She was quick, got out of the way, and Madison got the full soda pop assault. A measure of revenge, at least. We ran.
That was the end of our exploits with Jessie and Madison. Somewhat the back and forth banter lost its luster in the last couple weeks of school. Then we never saw them again. Did they go to a different junior high? Move away? Did the soda pop incident cause irreparable emotional damage?
We still do not know.
